


Message in a bottle put out to sea

by powerfulowl (StuckyFlangst)



Series: Sweet and Sad Stucky mouthfuls [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes Feels, Happy Ending, M/M, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Post-Canon Fix-It, Reunions, nothing is explained
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:21:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29256630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StuckyFlangst/pseuds/powerfulowl
Summary: Bucky lives in a shack near the ocean and sends messages to Steve in bottles.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Series: Sweet and Sad Stucky mouthfuls [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2076327
Comments: 8
Kudos: 25





	Message in a bottle put out to sea

**Author's Note:**

> This is another little Twitter prompt I wrote that I am posting for posterity.

When Bucky arrived at the shack on the clifftop, he found a cupboard full of ancient green wine bottles, and a box of corks. He remembered the old pirate stories he used to read to Becca, where people would draw maps to buried treasure and put them in a bottle and cast them out to sea.

The first time he thought of something he wanted to say to Steve – _do you remember the time we went to the Harlem drag ball and that cop took a fancy to you at the subway station_ – he immediately felt a wave of grief.

So Bucky wrote the message on some wax paper he found in the box of corks, tied it with string, and put the message and a cork into the bottle. He walked down the narrow cliff path to the beach – empty and isolated; strewn with shells, seaweed, and debris. He stood at the edge of the ocean – grey under a grey sky. He stared at the green glass in his right hand. And cast the bottle into the ocean.

He breathed the salt air deep. Thought of Sam telling him _take some time, work out what_ you _want now_. He took off his shoes and walked, feeling the sand between his toes. He thought of the empty platform. He picked up a purple shell. He thought of Steve saying goodbye.

Every day, sometimes a few times a day, he would think of something and open his mouth to tell Steve. He would turn to the empty air. He would think of the old man who didn’t even look at him, then vanished. He would write his thought on a piece of paper and cast it into the sea.

The number of bottles slowly decreased.

One morning he woke from a dream and rolled to touch a warm body beside him.

Down on the beach he looked at the bottle. Raised his arm.

‘ _Bucky._ ’

It couldn’t be. Bucky turned. It was _Steve_ – still huge and blonde, hair like wild straw in the salty wind. Tears on his cheeks.

Bucky couldn’t speak. All those words vanishing in the face of the man. He held out his hand with the green bottle.

Steve took it and stared at it, confused. Then he pushed in the cork with a strong finger, and shook out the rolled-up message, untied the string.

His blue eyes flicked over the message. _Steve, I think I will wake every day for the rest of my life longing for you. I have decided not to try to stop loving you. This pain is better than the emptiness._

Steve stumbled to Bucky, wrapped him in the warmest arms in this or any universe.

‘Oh Bucky, I never stopped loving you, even though I was so far away.’ Steve’s breath was warm, his tears cold on Bucky’s neck where he buried his head.

The sea was bottle green today, as if the whole ocean sang with Bucky’s love.

**Author's Note:**

> I always love your comments and kudos. Like messages in bottles.
> 
> 🍾


End file.
